Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters.

-The Enchanter of Fairy Tail-

Chapter 51: The Girl Up On The Mountain

Year: X758. 26 years till Canon begins.

Cade POV:

A good amount of time had passed since my dinner with Lilly, and were now in the hot summer of Magnolia.

This was my favourite time of the year, the way the wildlife and even some animals return to life after months of being dormant was something to marvel at. I was able to spend some more time outdoors reading and doing some other things. The warm weather was also able to make it to where I was able to wear some more comfortable clothing like shorts and short-sleeved shirts.

Not that much progress had been made this year, other then the fact that I had still been training up my magic every so often. I had been going on a few jobs whenever I could have, to earn money and have some practice for my magic.

Me and Lilly had been spending more and more time together since January. I found it much easier for me to let out my feelings instead of burying them and trying to ignore them. I felt like the both of us were getting closer and closer.

In a few days I planned to do something I never thought I'd have the guys to do a few months back: To ask Lilly if she wanted to… go out with me.

Yes. I knew that this would be an absolutely terrifying thing for me to ask, but the only thing that would be me right now would be further hesitation.

After accepting my feelings head on, I realised that I truly loved her. And I was pretty certain that she loved me back.

I could only imagine how Gildarts and Cornelia would react to this. And who could forget my mother who was now very, very interested in any dealings between me and Lilly since January.

While I had planned this out for a few days now, I was still sweating buckets about the whole thing. Right now, I was at the guild and was wondering what job I should take as a means of getting a break from all this stress. What better way to do it than to go on a fight inducing job! There were a few jobs that I could see.

Some seemed fairly basic, yet there was one that caught my eye.

—

A-Class

Reward: 600,000 jewels

Investigate a strange wizard that has been hiding out in the mountains above the town of Florist. Report to the mayor of the town for more information.

—

Yeah, this job seemed alright.

I thankfully knew where Florist town was. It was to the north of Magnolia and was a few stops away from Crocus. It would take maybe a day to get there.

Satisfied with my choice, I headed up to Master Makaorv and handed him the job. "Hey Master. I'll be taking this job if you don't mind." I said as I handed him the job.

Master Makarov had aged a fair bit since these last few months. All his yellow hair was now gone and was replaced by grey hairs that even had some tiffs of white sticking out of them. Along with that there were a few wrinkles on his face.

Master took the job and examined it. "Ah, good that you're taking this job. It's been up there for a while now." He remarked as he looked back at the job board.

Master then brought out a stamp from his Requip storage and stamped the paper. He then handed me the request back.

"You best get going. It takes a whole day to get to Florist town." He advised, as he took a swig of beer.

"Right. See you Master!" I waved as I left the building, and headed to Magnolia train station. I had told my mother that I was taking another job today, so I didn't need to head back up and tell her where I would be.

When I got to the train station, I booked the next train to Florist town. When the train came, I hopped on and began the journey.

One uneventful day later, and I arrived at Florist town. This was a small and nice town that was close to some big and snowy mountains. They had some very high winds and freezing temperatures. At least that's what the pamphlets said on the way here.

The town itself was about half the size of Magnolia. It was a nice well built town that had many houses, a river that ran down from the mountain led into the town, a few stores, and a park for the people to walk through.

The town hall in which the mayor reside was located at the far end of the town, so I headed over there when exiting the train. I still had plenty hours of daylight left, so I should be fine regarding time.

When I reached the town hall I knocked on the doors to make myself known. A few seconds later, the door opened and I saw a woman who looked a bit worried.

"What is it?" She quickly said to me.

"Whoa easy there. I'm the wizard that accepted the job here." I proclaimed as I rolled up my sleeve to show the lady my Fairy Tail mark. When the lady saw it, she simply sighed.

"So we have another wizard that comes here to try to help us. Just don't run away like the others." She grumbled as she moved aside to let into the town hall.

I was going to ask about what she said there to me, but I had a feeling that would be answered for me later. I entered the building and saw that I was in a small room that had a few doors that led into different areas of the building.

"Where's the mayor?" I asked the lady as she pushed a button that was on a desk.

"I've just called for him." The lady sighed.

As she said that a door opened and (who I presumed to be the mayor) walked out. He did not seem that interesting of a person from a first glance, and seemed curious to see a wizard like myself here.

"Who are you?" The man said.

"I'm the wizard that accepted the job about a strange individual up in the mountains." I explained. "Are you the mayor?" I asked after.

The man looked happy to hear me say that. "Yes I am the mayor of this town. I must thank you for accepting this job when so many other wizards did and later proceeded to give up."

"What? Other wizards have taken this job only to quit midway through?" I asked for confirmation.

"Yes." The mayor said. "It is sad to see this. I began to lose hope with this situation when the first few left us."

I immediately decided to state my resolve. "Don't worry Sir. I've never decided to walk away from a job, and I don't plan on starting with this one!" I said with determination, nodding.

This seemed to cheer the mayor up. "Thank you young man, I can tell that you a world apart from the other wizards that came here." The mayor then gestured to the doors outside. "Might we take a walk outside and I will fill you in on the details?" He suggested.

"Yes that sounds good to me." I said with a nod, as the mayor lead me out of the building and back out into the town.

When we exited the building, he led me down the pathway that the villagers used. Then the mayor began to describe the situation here.

"It all started around a month ago now. I was trying to bring some fruit that can only be grown up in the mountain there down here to be sold to some traders." The mayor pointed at the large mountain that was not too far away in the distance.

"However, we encountered a bit of difficulty with that. The men I sent up had said reported there was a stranger up there with some sort of magic. This man nearly killed them both by sending them off the mountain! If it weren't for some lucky verges on the mountain, then they would have died!" The mayor cried with anguish.

"How horrible..." I simply had a distain for those that would be fine taking another's life. "That is when you first sent out the request right?"

"You are right about that. I sent out the job request to get rid of the man and have him kicked off the mountain to allow us to collect the fruits and resume our trade." The mayor confirmed. "The issue is… that many of the wizards that have taken the job are unable to to climb the mountain, whether it be from the sheer cold temperatures, or the narrow path up there." He sighed after that.

I took a look at the large mountain, and felt a shiver go down my spine. I wasn't giving up on this job, but I would be facing lots of obstacles like the cold, narrow paths… and my fear of heights.

"Well that's not going to stop me." I stated as I gave a look of dedication. "I'll get that man off the mountain for you!"

"Ah, thank you young man." The mayor had a kind smile on him. "Perhaps you should stock up on some warmer clothing? The temperatures are quite low up there."

"Hmm… that might be wise." I thought about the low temperatures, as my gaze drifted off into the mountain. "Yeah… I think I'll stock up on some supplies then I'll get going."

"Very good." The mayor said with a nod. "Ah! One more thing!" He cried out to me. "There is another wizard that came to accept the job yesterday."

That got my attention. "Really? Another wizard?" I said with interest. "What guild were they from?"

"No guild. They are independent I believe." The mayor said.

Now I was really curious. "Are they still up there?"

"Yes. She came here yesterday saying that she saw the job advertised in a local job board in some other town. She then accepted the job when I told her the information about it." The mayor informed me.

"She huh?" I muttered as I looked back up at the mountain.

'Well this is a first. I've never taken the same job as an independent wizard before.' I thought with interest.

While more than 90% of jobs are taken and completed by guid wizards, there are some wizards that aren't a part of guilds that take jobs and complete them. I had never ran into one before on a job, so this was quite interesting for me.

'Chances are I'll see her up there. We are going to the same place after all.' I considered. 'Still. I should get some good gear before I head up there.'

I thanked the mayor for the information he gave me, before I headed to see what the village had to offer in terms of some winter clothing.

The nearby store had some insulated clothing, that wasn't too heavy and was easy to move around in. It also felt quite comfortable, so I decided to purchase it and wear it for my journey up. I also had some hats and gloves that I wore to help warm up my ears and hands.

I asked some locals if they could show me where the path up to the mountain is. They pointed to it and said that it was a relatively long journey up, but there were a few caves around the mountain that I could rest in if I got too tired.

I had a hunch that might be where the criminal would be hiding. I also asked the person whether the path would cut off at a certain point. They replied saying that the path goes all the way up to the top of the mountain but is much harder to make out at certain points due to all the snow and ice.

I thanked the person, before I turned to the pathway that lead up to the mountain in question. It seemed to be a long and curvy road ahead, but I couldn't let the villagers hear down.

I started my trek along the pathway, eventually leaving the village and coming to the foot of the mountain. I pushed onwards and as I got higher and higher, I could see the village getting further and further away.

Here's hoping that I wouldn't be looking directly down at any points during this.

After around 30 minutes of walking, I came to the first point where the path was slightly covered by snow. A chill also swept through the air, which hit by my face, causing me to scrunch my eyes slightly. I could tell that from here on out, things would be much more difficult.

As I continued to climb, I began to see and hear less wildlife than I did earlier down the path. The lowering temperatures must make it difficult for almost anything to live and be fully self-sustaining up here. I also spotted a few trees that seemed a bit out of place. They must only get snow up here all season.

While I kept climbing up I saw some big storm clouds in the distance. They looked quite menacing and seemed to be heading this way.

'That is not good.' I thought with a grimace. 'I still haven't found any of those caves yet. I better pick up the pace if I'm to find some sort of shelter.' I realised, as I began to walk a bit faster.

After another 30 minutes of walking, I still hadn't found a cave, and the storm was now right upon me. It hit my back causing me to fall over slightly and onto my knees. I was able to get up, but now there was high winds and thick and fast snow coming at me from all sides.

Currently I was on a cliff side, meaning one wrong move would mean that I would fall several – perhaps hundreds of feet to the ground beneath me. I had doubts that my Soft spell would save me if I was falling that high down.

I gritted my teeth and stood back up, with a resolve to keep going.

Despite the thick and fast snow, I was still able to make out the path beneath me. I tried to go at a fast pace to get out of this storm, but there was ice on the path and I nearly slipped and fell of the mountain! I had to use my hands to cover my face to try and see the way forward.

One idea I had was to use my Kaen sword to see the way forward. But the wind and snow made that outright impossible to do so!

As I struggled onwards, I swore that I could see someone in the far distance! It was a small silhouette that I barely made out. It seemed like someone was standing up straight and was looking at me!

It was at that moment that I used all my strength to plow forwards through the thick snow to try to get to this person. Why were they here? Did they have some shelter nearby?!

"HELLO! CAN YOU SEE ME?!" I shouted as I waved to them, while still getting closer.

As I reached them however, I was mortified to find that it was a rather convincingly and conveniently shaped rock that was long and up straight. From a distance it truly looked like a human.

Dread filled my mind, as I was now feeling quite tired and heavy now. The water from the snow had reached into my clothing and was making them wet and heavy – not to mention cold.

'D-Dammit! These clothes are wearing me down! I can't waste time to take them off though. Even if I did so then I'd get hyperthermia even faster!' I scowled as I had no choice but to keep going forwards.

Now it was a real drag to keep going. Each step felt like a huge walk to what might possibly be a dead end. The path was-

…Wait… the path… where was the path!?

'No!' I had somehow lost the path when I went running off to where that stone was! I desperately looked around to see where the path was, but I couldn't see it due to all the thick snow.

I was lost. Perhaps in the worst possible place under the worst possible conditions.

As panic filled my mind on me being lost and now beginning to get quite cold, I desperately started to walk in any and all directions in order to find some sort of place to rest and get out of this horrendous weather.

While I walked without taking careful consideration of what I might be stepping on, I ended up slipping on some ice that sent me over the cliff face!

"AGHHHH! SOFT! SOFT! PLEASE WORK!" I cried desperately. As I fell I swore that I saw someone… a girl perhaps, on a lower side of the mountain that I was falling by.

However, I knew that this was in fact a person and not a rock, as the person cried out a spell quickly.

"I_e-Ma_e: P_tfo_m!" The girl shouted, though I barely made out her words over the blizzard.

And then everything went black.

…

…?

'A-Argh… my head… hurts so bad…'

I found myself coming to, after who knows how long of being unconscious.

'What… happened…?' I grunted a little, as I felt myself get a better idea of my surroundings.

I was lying down, and I could feel that I was on a soft mat of sorts. There was a cover around me, and I could hear the cracking sound of a fire nearby. My eyes were still shut, but I began to slowly move them to open them up.

'Did I fall unconscious in that blizzard?' I wondered, as I slowly opened my eyes and slowly took in my surroundings.

I was in a wooden room – a cabin by the looks of things. There was a stone fireplace in the far corner of the room, heating things up. There were two windows in the room, that showed the outside world; with the blizzard still roaring on in the background of the hot fire. There was a mat in the center of the room which gave this place a homely vibe. There were also two doors that led into separate rooms of the house.

'Where the hell am I?! Am I still on that god awful mountain?' I wondered as I sat up.

This caused me some discomfort, as my head hurt a bit when this happened. I raised my hand to hold my head, but I hit a table that was to my right. This caused me to knock over something that caused a loud noise to be heard across the room I was in.

'What-!?' I nearly jumped out my skin when that happened.

The door to my right opened not long after that sound was made. I looked and saw a girl who looked about my age (or perhaps a year older than me?)

She was of decent height and had a slim figure about her, she had some short dark purple hair, with some black eyes. I was surprised by what she was wearing though, considering where we were right now: She wore some rather light clothing that being a short, tan jacket. She had her jacket open to reveal a maroon tube top below it. Her lower half consisted of black jeans with some simple brown shoes.

'What in the-? Who is she?' I thought with oddity.

The girl looked released to see me awake. "Oh thank goodness you're ok." She gave a sigh of relief at seeing me awake. "Are you feeling any better?" She asked after.

"Um… not really…? My head is still a bit sore." I answered, as I put my hand to my forehead again.

"Oh dear… I tried my best to save you out there. Sorry I couldn't help with your head anymore." The girl frowned a little.

'So it was this girl that saved me out there!'

"Oh no, don't be sorry! You done everything you could have to help me!" I tried to cheer her up, with a grin.

She smiled at me. "I appreciate that. I'm glad I was there to save you though. Who knows how far you would have fallen if I didn't catch you with my platform." She said.

The girl then introduced herself to me. "My name is Ur." She greeted me with a smile.

'Strange… could have sworn I heard that name before…' I put this out of my mind though and chose to introduce myself as well.

"My names Cadewell, but you can call me Cade." I greeted back at her, with a nod.

"So where am I Ur? Last thing I remember was that I was falling off the mountain and then I blacked out." I asked, as I rubbed my head.

Ur now entered the room fully and shut the door behind her. "It was a complete matter of chance that I saved you back there. I was walking along the mountain to come back here, when I saw you falling to my left. I acted quickly and used my magic to save you. Then I dragged you back here and warmed you back up." She explained to me.

I nodded my head in understanding.

"Wait… do you live here?" I questioned with curiosity.

Ur looked surprised to hear me ask that. "Oh yes! This was a home that me and my parents had. We moved down to the lower cities and towns. See I have a few houses like this, but I like coming back up here every so often." Ur said with a small bit of sadness coming from her towards the end there.

"Huh." Was all I could say as I looked around the room. "Are er, your parents here by any chance?"

Ur now looked quite sad. "They… are dead… They died last year…" She muttered softly.

I suddenly felt a wave of regret and guilt wash over me after I said that. "Ah! I'm sorry! I didn't know that they-"

"It's ok." Ur raised her hands at me in a calming manner. "You didn't know."

There was suddenly now a very awkward atmosphere in the room, making me feel like I was intruding in a way.

"So…" Ur spoke. "Why are you up here Cade?" She asked, trying to break the silence.

"Well I'm on a job that involves a shady person up here who is attacking the villagers. I'm to beat him and then presumably hand him over to the Rune Knights." I answered. "The mayor didn't exactly say what to do after that part…"

Ur looked stunned to hear that. "Really? I'm on the same job myself. I picked it up at a town yesterday."

"Really? You're the girl that the mayor told me about?" I was surprised that she was right here in front of me.

"That's right. I took the job hoping that I could use the money to pay for some things. Guess I have to split the reward now if you're here." She muttered with a bit of shame.

I couldn't help but feel bad for Ur here. Many wizards that are independent normally end up having to split the reward to many wizards that are actually part of a guild, as they have priority over who gets what in the reward. Something that I always found a bit unfair.

I chose to shift the focus away from this and move onto a more interesting matter. "So what kind of magic do you have Ur?" I questioned. "I remember that you saved me with a spell, I just can't remember what the spell was." I wondered as I rubbed my head again.

Ur held out a hand in front of me and a small ice sculpture appeared in front of her, which shocked me a little. "Ice-Make is my form of magic." She said with a smile. "How about you?"

"I've got two magics, but ice is one of mine. Just regular ice if you're wondering." I answered, now recalling a previous detail. "Say… you wouldn't have run into an author called Christopher at some point in your life have you?" I questioned.

Ur looked a bit surprised to hear me say that. "Yes I have. He was writing a book on different kinds of magic. He came to me, and I offered to give him some notes on my magic."

'So you are the Ur that he told me about. Funny that I'm meeting you like this.' I thought with surprise.

"Heh, I met the same guy a few months back. He said that he ran into a powerful ice wizard. He only ever told me your name, and I was curious if you were the same person." I spoke. "So, you're pretty powerful then? According to Chris at least."

Ur looked a bit embarrassed when I said that. "Oh well, many people have said that I'm quite strong for my age. Apparently I was born with much higher magical power than most newborn wizards. Because of that, I had to suffer from a few bad fevers in my childhood which was an unfortunate side effect." She frowned.

"Oh yeah, I've heard about that. Apparently, most kids just have to push through it and hope for the best." I said, remembering a newspaper article on the matter.

After I said that, I tried to get up and out of bed. Despite the fact that I was wearing some rather light clothing which Ur must have changed me out of, I still felt quite heavy. My first attempt to get out of bed resulted in me falling back down.

"Ow…" I muttered as I rubbed my head. "Guess I'm still not fully fixed up yet."

"You hit your head pretty badly out there. It might be best if you stay here for the night. The blizzard is to die down over the night. The next day we can head out and complete the job." Ur suggested, as she moved to put some more wood on the fire, to keep it lit.

"So about the job… you have any idea where this guy is?" I asked with interest.

Ur frowned. "From the time I've spent up here I've never seen this strange individual before. I can only guess that he has been hiding out on one of the caves up here on the mountain. I might head out early in the morning to see where he is."

"Well don't go without me. I'd still like to help the villagers down there." I gave a weak smile.

Ur just gave me a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, I'll just scope out the area. I think I know the trees the villagers are talking about, so I'll check around there." She then frowned at me. "Are you sure that you are ok? You aren't hungry or anything?"

"Me? I'm fine for now. Still, I might be a bit hungry later." I shrugged back to her. "I might need to give you a shout if I need anything. I'm not sure if I'll be leaving this bed until the morning."

Ur gave me a smile. "Yes of course! I'll just be in the next room." She said as she pointed at the door to my right. "I hope that you can recover well Cade." She said, as she moved to leave the room.

Before she left though, I spoke up to her one final time for the night. "Hey Ur? Just realised that I haven't said this yet, but thanks for saving me back there." I gave her a weak smile.

"No problem. Just be more careful when your next in a blizzard." She said with a wink as she closed the door.

'Yeah, that'll be IF I'm in another blizzard after this.' I remarked internally.

My mind then began to think back on everything that I had just learned there. I got meet Ur, the same person who Chris said was a very powerful ice wizard. She then saved my life and brought me here. I'm guessing that tomorrow, we'll be going out in this job together.

'Honestly, it's best that she's here. If it weren't for her then I would have died up on that mountain. Plus, I don't know where I am now, so it's good that she can tell me how to get out of here.'

I then lied back down on the bed and tried to get comfortable for the night. Tomorrow, I'd hopefully be off this horrible rock.

I woke up what I think was a few hours later. The blizzard had been near extinguished, as I could only see a clear blue sky coming from the window outside. There were also no violent winds as well, as I could hear nothing from outside.

The cabin looked about the same, the fire had gone out but I was still fairly warm which was good. Ur was not in the room, so she might have already left to see where the individual is.

On the plus side, I was feeling much better now. My head was no longer sore, and it felt like all my strength had been returned to me. I raised myself up and got out of the bed, my bare feet hitting the wooden floor.

I looked and saw my winter gear on a chair in the far corner. I moved over to collect it and wear it again, but I was interrupted by the nearby door opening.

In walked Ur. She looked happy to see me up and out of bed. "It's good to see you awake Cade." She greeted me with a smile. "I just got back from checking out the mountain like I said I would yesterday. I know the way up to the tree in question, so can head up there later." She informed me.

"Do you know if the weather is to be any better today?" I asked, a small ounce of fear at another blizzard.

"Hard to say… But I didn't see any storm clouds in the distance, so I think we should be ok." She assured me.

I then noticed something interesting. "Hey Ur. Did you wear that clothing when you went outside just there?" I asked, as I pointed at her outfit which was the same as the one she wore yesterday.

"Hmm? Oh yes, I always wear this when I'm heading out into the mountains." She explained simply.

"… Don't you get cold? That doesn't look very warm…" I said with hesitation.

"Well I've climbed these mountains and gone through a pretty tough training regime, so my body is used to the cold." She stated proudly.

"Huh…" Really wish that I was immune to the freezing cold like her.

It was then that my stomach rumbled. "Oh. Guess that's a sign that I'm hungry." I said, as I scratched my head with an awkward smile.

"Don't worry. I have plenty of food here." Ur assured me. "Why don't we get something to eat. Then after that we can head out while the weather is still nice?" She suggested.

"No complaints from me." I grinned, as Ur lead me to a small room that had some tables, chairs and some food ready to be eaten.

'It must be a hassle for Ur to get all this food and bring it up to this cabin. Especially if the weather is always bad. She must have it rough up here…' I realised, as I ate away at some of the foods.

When we were finished eating, I went and got dressed into my winter clothes, while Ur waited for me at the door of the cabin. When I was dressed, I met Ur at the exit.

"Ready to go?" She asked.

"You bet." I replied, a smile forming on my face.

Ur then opened the door to the cabin and we both exited. Now there was only one thing left to do. Take down whoever was attacking the villagers and get off this mountain. With Ur here, I had the feeling that this would be a piece of cake.

And scene! That's this chapter done. Please do leave a review of your thoughts.

Earlier this week we got the announcement of Fairy Tail 100 Year Quest! July can't come any faster can it?

Probably should have mentioned this, like WAY earlier, but this story won't cross into 100 Year Quest after the Alvarez Empire Arc. But, as I like 100 Year Quest, I'll maybe be including some elements and maybe some characters in this story before then.

Well in this chapter we finally got to meet another original cast member!

Ur was a character I was looking forward to writing about. Seeing how she and Cade will fight together will be interesting. Also, as she is an Ice-Make Wizard I don't have to to rewatch all the anime episodes to see what her spells are! I can just make half of them up!

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing in the next chapter, hope you enjoyed this one and I will see you then!